Shopify Fills CTO and GC Vacancies With Ex-Slack and White House Leaders

Shopify has had a few gaping holes in its org chart since Chief Talent Officer Brittany Forsyth, Chief Legal Officer Joe Frasca, and Chief Technology Officer Jean-Michel Lemieux all left the company earlier this year.

However, now it seems that the Canadian e-commerce platform provider has filled two of those roles with its latest appointments.

On Monday, CEO Tobi Lütke announced the hiring of Slack’s SVP of Engineering, Allan Leinward, as its new CTO on Twitter, almost five months after tweeting out a link to apply for the position.

Before joining Slack, Leinward was CTO at ServiceNow and spent seven years as a venture capital investor. He brings a wealth of networking experience as he previously founded Vyatta, a network operating system that was later acquired by Brocade. He also holds a patent in the field of data routing and taught classes on computer networks, network management and network design at UC Berkeley.

Alongside news of Leinward’s hire, Shopify has also selected its legal leader, a position that has also been vacant since earlier this year.

In her LinkedIn announcement, incoming Shopify General Counsel Jess Hertz revealed that she will start in November after a short break.

She takes over from Erin Zipes and Vivek Narayanadas, who have split oversight of Shopify’s legal functions since August on an interim basis.

Hertz is an experienced public sector lawyer who has a wealth of experience working with US President Joe Biden, as she left behind her role as White House Staff Secretary earlier this month. Before that she served as General Counsel for the Biden-Harris Transition Team and spent time as Principal Deputy Counsel to then-Vice President Biden from 2012 to 2014.

“I'm thrilled to be joining the Shopify team as general counsel, and honored to play a part in making the tools of entrepreneurship available to as many people as possible,” Hertz stated. “It has been a privilege to serve in the White House and on the Biden-Harris Transition Team, and I'll always be #teamjoe.”

During her brief time not working for the US government, Hertz was a Director and Associate General Counsel in charge of regulatory affairs for Facebook and a Partner at law firm Jenner & Block.

Hertz’s close connections to the current administration and past experience representing Facebook’s regulatory interests makes her a strong choice for Shopify as it expands its US presence.